Painting your models

I've mentioned many firsts on this blog. My first wargaming army (more than a few models skirmishing) that I rolled dice with was, like many a wargamer, Space Marines. I'd read battle reports in White Dwarf of second edition 40K between Blood Angels and Orks and so the classic red look Spam had appealed to me. Blood Angels, painted Blood red, not rocket science really. I can see why a lot of beginner hobbyists began with Spam, you can get away with a simple paint job and then you improve your skills taking on the more complicated looking character pieces.

Once confidence set in, I decided to take on vehicles and a Dreadnought. Wanting to speed up the process a bit I purchased a can of spray paint, Blood Angel Orange. Hang on, Orange? Thus began my education in the weird world of wargaming paints. 

So, my tanks were orange and my troops were red. Don't believe me the colour existed? I have a pot I found at a car boot sale more recently.

Yep, that's a tube of Beattie glue as well. I'm keeping it preserved for prosperity.

Sometimes I check my paint box and grumble at the number of pots that have dried up and despair at how quickly it has happened, then remember that they are probably four or five years old and it's been six months since my last check. Then I counter that argument with myself by pointing out the twenty five year old pot of Polished Blue that has not dried up. Why can't they all be like Polished Blue! (Good old reliable, discontinued Polished Blue.) Then I cry tears into the dried paint as I realise I have been doing this hobby for a quarter of a century. Then the tears make the paint useable again and all is good in the world.

Remember these? Yep, still not painted them. You've all got some in a box somewhere, reminding you how long you've been playing.

Another sign of ageing is the number of times I have mourned the loss of a favourite colour, oh they tell you it's been replaced by an identical colour with just a different name, they show you the colour conversion chart but it's just not quite the same colour is it? Yes I've been taking my sweet time painting my current project (normally counted in months or years) but I need to colour match exactly.

Found some of these once in a toyshop on holiday, bought their entire stock as the colour was discontinued in the official GW stores.

I'm not blaming any one company either. I've tried other companies too. Coat D'arms are a good alternative if you miss the good old GW days but even they have problems sometimes.

Split lid? It's fine, the dried up paint makes a good seal to keep the rest of the paint fresh!

Then of course if you want to avoid all the issues of lids, why not try a pot with a dropper top? That's fine, but I always end up putting more on my pallet than I actually need.

These are all grumpy old man problems really. No-one can expect paints to last forever, even if the old school ones do. As for actual coverage and pigment matching, don't get me started...